Mount Carmel is a mountain range that stretches along the Mediterranean coast in northern Israel, near the present day city of Haifa. Its dense vegetation and springs of water made it, in ancient times, a symbol of abundance in the middle of a region that was often dry.
In the Bible, Carmel is remembered above all for the confrontation between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal, during the reign of King Ahab. Before all the people of Israel, the Lord answered with fire from heaven and proved that he alone is God.
After Elijah, the prophet Elisha also went up to Carmel more than once, and the mountain became a landmark for those seeking a man of God.
Poets and prophets of Israel used the beauty and abundance of Carmel as an image: the beauty of the beloved was compared to its greatness, and the withering of its summit was a sign of God’s judgment on the land.
Carmel reminds us that God answers with power when his people turn to him wholeheartedly, without wavering between one god and another.
